(Iraq) War costs approach $10 billion a month....

[mike_c]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/04/20/MNGGOIBTNQ1.DTL

War costs approach $10 billion a month
Military faces huge maintenance tab and spending to replace depleted equipment

Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post

Thursday, April 20, 2006


Washington -- Annual war expenditures in Iraq will almost certainly come close to doubling since the U.S. invasion, as the military confronts the rapidly escalating cost of repairing, rebuilding and replacing equipment chewed up by three years of combat.

The cost of the war in U.S. fatalities has declined this year, but the cost in treasure continues to rise -- from $48 billion in 2003 to $59 billion in 2004 to $81 billion in 2005 to an anticipated $94 billion in 2006, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

The U.S. government is now spending nearly $10 billion a month in Iraq and Afghanistan, up from $8.2 billion a year ago, a new Congressional Research Service report found.

Annual war costs in Iraq are easily outpacing the $61 billion a year that the United States spent in Vietnam between 1964 and 1972, in today's dollars. The Iraq invasion's "shock and awe" phase of high-tech laser-guided bombs, cruise missiles and stealth aircraft has long faded, but the costs of even those early months are just coming into view as the military confronts equipment repair and rebuilding costs it has avoided and procurement costs it never expected.

more@link

on edit: The house and senate will soon begin debating a new $100+ billion special appropriations bill to fund this madness for another few months. This is utterly insane.

[Miss Chybil]

1. Just imagine how we COULD have done with that money to promote world peace

Ah well... it's always easier to convince people to blow other people up as opposed to feeding them, giving them shelter, an education, or anything mundane like that.

[oscar111]

2. Isnt that fully a third or forth of total pentagon budget?

wht is the pentagon budget now?

[cassiepriam]

4. What a better world it would have been to spend it on:

Education, health care, development of alternative energy, social security,etc.

[area51]

13. Money

"Just imagine how we COULD have done with that money..."

Or just imagine this nation beginning to change into a civilized nation by using that money to start up universal healthcare.

[cliss]

3. Notice the trend?

2003 - $48 billion
2004 - $59 billion
2005 - $81 billion
2006 - $94 billion

Oh man, my estimates were way off. The whole time, I've been calculating around $4.8 billion per month, and complaining about it endlessly. Based on 2006 figures, it's actually around $7.83 billion per month. So far, it looks like we've spent about $300 billion on this war.

Also interesting: the $94 billion is about twice as much as we were spending in 2003. That's truly staggering. I'm amazed that our creditors are still lending us money for this insane adventure.

Well, at some point they will cut us off. Anybody care to bet on when that will be? Maybe December of 2006?

***Looks like Usama was right.

[cassiepriam]

5. Any body lending us money at this point is insane... have they

see the payback history of Bush and his pals?
They just go bankrupt and let the creditors take the hit.

[rodeodance]

6. ABC The One Certainty About Iraq: Spiralling Costs for Americans

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=1866779&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
The One Certainty About Iraq: Spiralling Costs for Americans
Poor Planning, Need for New Equipment Could Push War Costs to $1 Trillion

By KEITH GARVIN

April 20, 2006 — There are many uncertainties about the progress made by coalition forces and the future prospects for stability and democracy in Iraq, but there is at least one indisputable fact: The Bush administration vastly underestimated the costs of the Iraq war.

Not only in human lives, but in monetary terms as well, the costs of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq far exceed the administration's initial projection of a $50 billion tab. While the number of American casualties in Iraq has declined this year, the amount of money spent to fight the war and rebuild the country has spiralled upward.

The price is expected to almost double after lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next week when the Senate takes up a record $106.5 billion emergency spending bill that includes $72.4 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House passed a $92 billion version of the bill last month that included $68 billion in war funding. That comes on top of $50 billion already allocated for the war this fiscal year.

Poor Planning Could Push War Costs to $1 Trillion

............

"When the administration submitted its original budget for the Iraq war, it didn't provide money for continuing the war this year or any other. We could end up spending up to $1 trillion in supplemental budgets for this war.".......

[fedsron2us]

7. Who benefits ?

'The hard faced men who did well out of the war' (Evelyn Waugh)

[Veronica.Franco]

8. Four Private Security Contractors Killed in Fallujah File a Ground-Breakin

The families of four private security contractors killed in Fallujah in March 2004 have filed a ground-breaking lawsuit charging Blackwater USA with fraud and wrongful death. Blackwater has fought to have the case dismissed by claiming that all liability lies not with the company but the U.S. government.

In an expose in the new issue of the Nation magazine, independent journalist Jeremy Scahill tells the story of the struggle of the four families of the slain Blackwater contractors to hold those responsible for their deaths accountable.

We speak with Jeremy Scahill as well as Katy Helvenston, the mother of Scott Helvenston who was killed in Fallujah, and the attorney in the case, Marc Miles.

This month marks the two-year anniversary of the first US siege of Fallujah, in which at least 600 Iraqis were killed. The U.S. attack was sparked by the gruesome killing of four private contractors inside Fallujah.

The men were working for Blackwater USA, one of the biggest security firms operating in Iraq.

Altogether an estimated 20,000 non-Iraqi civilian contractors are now working for the United States inside Iraq. About 6,000 of these are security contractors.

According to Department of Labor statistics, at least 425 U.S. civilians have died in Iraq including at least 22 Blackwater contractors.

These men and women are never included in the death tolls provided by the Pentagon or reported on in the media.

While the Iraq war has helped the company Blackwater USA see its profits soar, the company is facing a major battle here at home - this time in court.

The families of the four men killed at Fallujah have filed a lawsuit charging the company with wrongful death. Blackwater has fought to have the case dismissed by claiming that all liability lies not with the company but the U.S. government.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/20/1340246

The families are waking up to the lies ....

Could someone start a thread on this one? ... I am NEW and, therefore, nor allowed the priviledge ... THANKS...

[Blue_Tires]

9. welcome to the site!

[Bush_MUST_Go]

10. Pouring the taxpayer's money down a sinkhole so bush's cronies get richer.

[Voltaire99]

11. Total costs to exceed $2 trillion

As estimated by Nobel Laureate Economist Joseph Stiglitz, including factors such as lost economic productivity, oil prices and soaring health care costs for the wounded. See:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1681119,00.html

Special shout out to our politicians and media: thanks for the costly, futile war, you useless bastards!

[moondust]

12. Wheeeee!!!!

We're having fun now!!! What a party!!!!!!

[Zorra]

14. Time to pull out and cut our losses. This war is a waste of lives,

resources, and time.

[Az_lefty]

15. Healthcare...

feed and cloth the poor
take care of the widows and orphans
you know, all that Christian stuff...but WAR IS JUST TOO MUCH FUN!!!!

[SKKY]

16. 10 billion a month? So in 1 year that's 120 billion....

...And how much did they say it would cost to build the infrastructure for biofuel and hydrogen fuel cells? Am I missing
something?

[cantstandbush]

17. Just think what the money could be doing for citizens now. n/t

[DrBloodmoney]

18. In other news...

... cancer still hasn't been cured, AIDS orphans millions, criminals in the white house, and pot is still prohibited.

:puke:

[gatlingforme]

19. HMMM, what else is new with Bush the shithead

[admsitio]

20. Oh my god

That is a lot of money! what we could do with such money applied to education, health, peace, equality, poor... and more... ay ay ay... what a madness! we need a real change...

[IndianaGreen]

21. It would have been cheaper to provide free universal health care

for all Americans than to waste money on this unnecessary war.

[cureautismnow]

22. What a bargain ...

For Haliburton. :puke: